Mississippi college athletes admit to placing bets, minor disciplinary action is taken

• Two Mississippi State student-athletes have been ordered to undertake further rules training on gambling
• The athletes used prediction market platform Kalshi to place trades on professional sports events
• The offenses were flagged by ProhiBet, an NCAA partner tasked with detecting such prohibited activity

Two Mississippi State student-athletes have been disciplined over their breach of NCAA anti-gambling rules. The offenses happened in February and were subject to disciplinary action by the university, which established no malice in the athletes’ actions but enforced additional rules training.

NCAA and Mississippi State Take Action

The news was reported by the Clarion Ledger, which offered more details on the case. The offenses were classified as Level III violations, which is currently the lowest breach of gambling rules that the NCAA applies to offenders.

The cases involving the players were important for another reason - they demonstrated ProhiBet’s ability to detect instances of gambling breaches. ProhiBet is an NCAA partner tasked with monitoring for gambling activity by college sports insiders.

The players, whose names have not been released to the public, wagered on the Super Bowl and the NBA All-Star Game weekend, placing fairly modest wagers and using Kalshi, a prediction market platform, to do so. Technically, their wagers qualify as "trades" as prediction markets insist that they do not offer traditional sports wagering options.

Players will take additional rules training

The first wager was placed on February 8 and was worth $50. The "trade" was put on the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots’ Super Bowl showdown. The second player placed two trades on Kalshi for a total of $20 on NBA All-Star Game event contracts, resulting in $66.47 in profit, which the player would now have to donate to a charity of his choosing.

Both players appeared in front of Mississippi State’s compliance office and have admitted to placing the wagers. They have both been instructed to undertake further rules training, with no further penalties applying in this case.

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